Telegram CEO Pavel Durov allowed ‘child pornography, drug trafficking’ on messaging app, French court rules

France on Thursday, August 29, charged Telegram CEO Pavel Durov with a litany of violations related to the messaging app, including allowing child pornography and drug trafficking, and barred him from leaving the country. The country also allowed Pavel Durov to walk free after four days of questioning.

The investigation is over suspected complicity in various crimes including running an online platform that allowed “dissemination in an organised group of images of minors in child pornography,” drug trafficking and fraud, French prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.